ATVA Launches Six-Figure ‘Local Choice’ Ad Campaign

Saying it was "just two words away from the biggest celebration ever,” the American Television Alliance (ATVA), a coalition of cable and satellite operators and other TV distributors, Wednesday is launching a national ad campaign promoting the Senate Commerce Committee leadership's "Local Choice" proposal.

Those two words are "Local Choice," a plan that would essentially end the retransmission consent negotiation regime by having broadcasters deal directly with multichannel video programming distributor customers, offering their channels for a per-subscriber price that viewers could take or leave.

The plan does not similarly apply to cable channels, or to stations that opt for mandatory carriage (must carry), only to stations that opt to charge for their signals.